Chapter 2
The Vancouver - The engineer Harry Clifton - A boatload of
Kanakas - Crossing the Pacific Ocean - Mutiny - The second
mate Bob Gordon - Clifton imprisoned - A family at the mercy
of the waves - Flip's devotion.
The Vancouver was a three-masted Canadian vessel
displacing five hundred fluid tons (1). It had been
chartered to take a group of Kanakas to San Francisco,
California. These Kanakas (2), like the Chinese coolies, are
emigrants who voluntarily hire themselves out for work
abroad. One hundred fifty of these emigrants took passage on
board the Vancouver.
Travelers ordinarily avoid crossing the Pacific in the
company of these Kanakas, who are coarse people. Their
society is not desirable and they are always inclined to
revolt. Mr. Harry Clifton, an American engineer, and his
family had not planned to embark on the Vancouver. Mr.
Clifton, who had been employed for several years in improving
the approaches to the Amour River, was looking for an
occasion to get back to Boston, his native city. He had made
his fortune and he waited, there being almost no connections
between North China and America. When the Vancouver arrived
on the coast of Asia, Harry Clifton found the captain who
commanded her to be a compatriot and a friend. So he decided
to take passage on board, with his wife, his three sons and
his small daughter. He had acquired a certain fortune and he
aspired only to retire even though he was still young, barely
forty years of age.
His wife, Mrs. Elisa Clifton, felt some apprehension in
boarding this vessel full of Kanakas: but she did not wish to
oppose her husband, so eager to see America again. The
crossing, besides, would be a short one. The captain of the
Vancouver was experienced with these sorts of voyages, and
this reassured Mrs. Clifton a little. So she and her husband
embarked on the Vancouver with their three sons, Marc,
Robert, and Jack, their young daughter, Belle, and their dog,
Fido.
Captain Harrison, the vessel's commander, was a very
competent sailor who knew that there was little danger on the
Pacific Ocean. Mixing socially with the engineer, he
carefully saw to it that the Clifton family would have no
contact with the Kanakas who were lodged in the steerage.
The crew of the Vancouver was composed of some dozen
sailors of no particular nationality. It was difficult to
avoid this kind of crew when hiring in far away places. They
were often in conflict with each other. The crew of this
vessel was composed of two Irishmen, three Americans, a
Frenchman, a Maltese, two Chinamen and three Negros hired for
service on board.
The Vancouver left on the 14th of March. At first all
went well but the wind was not favorable. In spite of
Captain Harrison's skill, the currents and the wind from the
south drove the vessel too far north. That presented no
serious danger, it would only make the trip longer. The real
danger came from certain of the crew who were inciting the
Kanakas to mutiny. These scoundrels were encouraged to
disobedience by Bob Gordon, second in command, a notorious
rogue, who betrayed the captain's trust with whom he was
travelling for the first time. Several times already the
crew had heated discussions and the captain had to act with
authority. These regrettable incidents would have disastrous
consequences.
In fact, serious symptoms of insubordination were not
long in declaring themselves among the crew of the Vancouver.
The Kanakas were difficult to control. Captain Harrison
could only depend on the two Irishmen, the three Americans
and the Frenchman, a brave sailor barely americanized, having
lived for some time in the United States. This worthy man
was a native of Picardy. His name was Jean Fanthome but he
answered only to the nickname of Flip. This Flip had been
everywhere in the world; all that could happen to a human
being had happened to him but he still maintained his good
humor. It was he who warned Captain Harrison of the
dangerous conspiracies on board; he urged him to take
energetic measures. But what could be done under these
conditions? Would it not be best to be tactful while waiting
for a favorable wind to drive the vessel in sight of San
Francisco Bay?
Harry Clifton was informed of the second mate's
intrigues and his anxieties increased each day. Seeing the
alliances that were forming between the Kanakas and certain
members of the crew, he seriously regretted going on board
the Vancouver and exposing his family to the perils of this
voyage; but it was too late.
The evil conspiracies began to turn into acts of
violence and Captain Harrison ordered a Maltese who had
insulted him into irons. This occurred on March 23rd. The
Maltese's companions did not oppose the execution of this
sentence; they merely murmured while their companion was
seized by Flip and an American and put in irons. The
punishment by itself was a small thing; but, on their arrival
in San Francisco the act of insubordination could have
serious consequences for the Maltese. However, he did not
resist, doubtless being certain that the Vancouver would not
reach its destination.
The captain and the engineer often spoke about the
regrettable state of affairs. Harrison, truly anxious,
thought of arresting Bob Gordon, who did not hide his
intention of taking control of the vessel. But this could
provoke an explosion because the second mate was supported by
a large majority of the Kanakas. "Evidently," Harry Clifton
replied, "this arrest will accomplish nothing. Bob Gordon
will be freed by his supporters and we will be worse off than
before."
"You are right, Harry," replied the captain. "I know
only one way to get him out of the way! That is to put a
bullet through his head! And if he persists, I will do just
that, Harry! Ah! If only the wind and current weren't
against us."
In fact, the wind continued to blow the Vancouver off
route. The vessel often labored. Mrs. Clifton and her two
youngest children did not leave their cabin. Harry Clifton
judged it best not to tell his wife what was happening on
board, not wanting to alarm her unnecessarily.
However, with the sea so rough and the wind so strong,
the Vancouver was steered (3) with the staysail (4) and its
two topsails (5) lowered. During the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of
March no observation was possible. The sun was hidden by
thick clouds and Captain Harrison no longer knew to which
part of the north Pacific the storm had driven his vessel.
This was a new concern to add to those he already had.
On the 25th of March, about noon, the sky was a bit
improved. The wind shifted a quarter toward the west which
favored the vessel's progress. The sun showed itself. The
captain wanted to profit from it by making an observation,
made more necessary by the fact that land appeared some
thirty miles to the east.
Land in sight in this part of the Pacific where the most
recent maps showed nothing? Captain Harrison was astonished.
Had his vessel drifted as far north as the Aleutians? It was
important to verify this. He shared this information with
the engineer who was no less surprised than he was.
Captain Harrison took his sextant, went to the upper
deck and waited for the sun to reach its highest point so he
could make his observation and determine the exact moment of
noon at this place.
It was then 11:50 and the captain placed his eye to the
lens of the sextant when shouting erupted from the steerage.
Captain Harrison rushed to the front of the deck. At
this moment, about thirty Kanakas overpowered the English and
American sailors and rushed out of cover uttering terrible
cries of rage. The freed Maltese was in their midst.
Captain Harrison, followed by the engineer, immediately
descended to the bridge, surrounded by those seamen of his
crew that had remained loyal to him.
Ten feet from them, in front of the main mast, the
coarse rebellious Kanakas stopped. Most were armed with
anspect bars (6), awls, and mooring hooks. They brandished
these arms and their frightful shouting blended with the
cries of the Maltese and the Negros. These Kanakas wanted
nothing less than to seize the vessel. This revolt was the
result of the intrigues of the second mate, Bob Gordon, who
wanted to make the Vancouver a pirate ship.
Captain Harrison resolved to finish with this scoundrel.
"Where is the second mate?" he demanded.
No one answered. "Where is Bob Gordon?" he repeated.
One man moved out from the mutineers. It was Bob
Gordon. "Why are you not on the side of your captain?"
Harrison asked him.
"There is no other captain on board but me!" the second
mate responded insolently.
"You wretch!" shouted Harrison.
"Seize this man," said Bob Gordon, pointing out the
captain to the mutineers.
But Harrison, advancing a step, took his pistol from its
holder, aimed at the second mate, and fired.
Bob Gordon moved aside and the bullet was lost in a
wall.
The pistol firing was the signal for a general revolt.
The Kanakas, incited by the second mate, rushed toward the
small group surrounding the captain. It was a frightful
scuffle whose outcome could not be in doubt. Mrs. Clifton
was frightened and rushed out of the cabin with her children.
The English and American mates had been seized and disarmed.
When the crowd thinned, a corpse was slumped on the bridge.
It was that of Captain Harrison, mortally wounded by the
Maltese.
Harry Clifton wanted to rush on the second mate, but Bob
Gordon held him down firmly and, on his order, was locked in
his cabin with his dog, Fido.
"Harry! Harry!" Mrs. Clifton shouted, joined by her
children's cries.
Harry Clifton could not resist. Judge his despair when
he thought of his wife and his children at the mercy of this
furious band... A few moments later he was imprisoned in his
cabin.
Bob Gordon then found himself master of the vessel. The
Vancouver had fallen into his power. He could do whatever he
wished with it. The Clifton family was a nuisance on board
and the measures to be taken against the unfortunates would
barely inconvenience anyone's scruples.
At one o'clock the vessel was nearing a land twenty
miles windward. A lifeboat was brought out and thrown into
the sea. The crew threw in two oars, a mast, a sail, a sack
of biscuits and some pieces of salted meat. Flip followed
these preparations, having been left at liberty. What could
he, alone, do against the crowd?
When the boat was ready, Bob Gordon ordered Mrs. Clifton
and her four children to embark, pointing first to the boat
and then to the land.
The poor woman tried to sway the rascal. She cried and
begged him not to separate her from her husband. But Bob
Gordon banished her with a gesture. He would listen to
nothing. Doubtless he wanted to deal with the engineer
Clifton more firmly. He responded to the poor woman's
prayers with only a single word: "Get in!"
Yes! Such was this rascal's design! He would abandon
this woman and her four children in a frail craft on the high
seas, knowing full well that without a sailor to guide them
they would perish; as to his accomplices, as inflamed as he,
they remained deaf to the prayers of the mother and the tears
of the children! "Harry, Harry!" the poor woman repeated.
"Father! Father!" shouted the children.
The oldest, Marc, seized a rod, and rushed toward Bob
Gordon but the latter brushed him aside, and soon the
unfortunate family was dropped into the boat. Their cries
were heartrending. Harry Clifton heard them from the cabin
where he was imprisoned. His dog, Fido, responded with
furious barks.
At this moment, at Bob Gordon's order, the rope that
held the boat to the Vancouver was cast off and the vessel
began to move away.
Valiant Marc, like a true sailor, stood at the helm in
order to steady the boat, but the sail could not be hoisted.
The boat, caught in a cross-wind, threatened to founder.
Suddenly a body fell into the sea from the height of the
Vancouver's poop deck. It was the mate, Flip, who, throwing
himself into the water, was swimming vigorously toward the
boat in order to come to the aid of these abandoned people.
Bob Gordon turned back. For a moment he thought of
pursuing the fugitive. But he looked at the threatening sky.
An evil smile was on his lips. He set up the foresail and
the two top-gallants (7). Soon the Vancouver moved a
considerable distance away from the boat which now only
appeared as a point in space.
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(1) A fluid ton is a unit of volume equivalent to 2.83 cubic
meters
(2) Translator's note: "Kanakas" may also be correctly
translated as Polynesians or as natives of New Caledonia.
(3) reducing the sail area lowers the speed and the vessel is
steered while drifting
(4) the forward three-cornered sail closest to the foresail
mast
(5) the square sails on the topmast
(6) bars used to heave at the capstan
(7) sails above the topsail